[Nettime-bold] Fake Money and its Discontents

[Nmherman@aol.com]

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Find this story and followup articles at 
http://minneapolis.indymedia.org/display.php3?article_id=1074

audio at www.mpr.org, noon-1pm, Friday 2/23

Interesting note:  No coverage of protests in the student paper, the 
Minnesota Daily.

Fake money!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Max Herman
The Genius 2000 Network
http://www.geocities.com/genius-2000

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Personal Account of Disruption of Thomas Friedman Award Ceremony 
                   by Ben Grosscup 3:18am Sat Feb 24 '01 
                   benmalone@aol.com 

                           This is a personal account of a disruptive action 
at a Thomas Friedman
                           Speakign engagement 

                   I am writing as a person who helped disrupt a ceremony and 
speech of Thomas
                   Friedman, New York Times Foreign Affairs Correspondent, on 
Friday February 23. 

                   The action was meant to embarrass Thomas Friedman and the 
administration of the
                   University of Minnesota for their support of neo-liberal 
economic structures and corporate
                   globalization, radicalize people who questioned Friedman's 
neo-liberal ideology, and show
                   the strength of people who stand up to fight corporate 
globalization. The ceremony we
                   were disrupting was basically awarding Friedman for being 
a "great intellectual." I think the
                   corporate controlled oligarchy of the U of M 
administration is doing everything it can to
                   make the U of M into a corporate diploma factory to train 
a work force for a lifetime of
                   servitude to the corporate masters. One particularly 
egregious example of this is their
                   incestuous relationship with Cargill Inc., the 
Minnesota-based biotechnology multinational
                   corporation. The University and Cargill are both putting 
up funds to make a research
                   facility that will produce research that to which Cargill 
will have all the rights. 

                   I arrived at the front steps of the Northrop Auditorium 
where Friedman later spoke. A few
                   of the people I had met in various circumstances and at 
the organizing meeting the night
                   before were present. We decided to break up into groups. I 
was part of one of the small
                   groups that went in the auditorium and sat quietly waiting 
until Friedman began his speech.
                   Others stayed outside and passed out flyers, though I 
personally never got a chance to
                   see a copy of what they were passing out. 

                   After an "academic procession," where U of M alumni 
wearing hats with the little strings
                   walked on stage to organ music, a rendition of the "Star 
Spangled Banner," and an
                   introduction by U of M president Yudof, Friedman began his 
speech. I wish I had recorded
                   the Yudof's introduction because there were a number of 
very pro-corporate statements
                   Yudof said that I would have liked to examine here. 
Shortly after Friedman began talking
                   about his book, stating his now famous over-simplification 
that globalization has replaced
                   the cold war system, came the first visible signs of 
disruption and dissent. One person
                   near the front row stood and threw a large amount of what 
appeared to be fake money
                   into the air. Simultaneously, people held up the banners 
they inconspicuously brought that
                   denounced Friedman's neo-liberal economic agenda and the 
University's ardent support of
                   it. Individuals yelled statements like, "Globalization is 
killing the poor in the third world" and
                   some chanted in unison, "Globalization: Shut it down!," 
and "We are the people and the
                   students of the U, we do not support this point of view." 
As the chants began, Friedman
                   stopped. Our resolve in continuing to disrupt his speech 
was not rock solid and the chants
                   did begin to cease. I can say for myself that it was 
rather intimidating to see cops to the
                   sides of the auditorium and being told to "shut up," by 
some people who came to see him
                   speak. He referred to our action as "moronic," though I 
expected this response and was
                   not intimidated. I then pointed out very loudly yelling 
something to the effect of, "You think
                   anyone opposing capitalism is moronic because you are a 
capitalist." 

                   The proceedings were aired on Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) 
from 12 noon to pm. We
                   heard afterwards that Garry Eichton spliced in commentary 
about protesters making
                   disruptions as they occurred. However, we heard that MPR 
did broadcast Yudof
                   threatening us with arrest for our disruption. 

                   We exited carrying banners. One said something like "U of 
M Celebrates 3rd World Debt
                   and Poverty," referring again to Friedman's support of 
institutions like the World Bank and
                   International monitory Fund. 

                   Then we congregated outside the auditorium chanting 
"Thomas Friedman is a corporate
                   Lap-Dog." At times people held a bullhorn and articulated 
the critique of Friedman, the
                   New York Times and the U of M. 

                   Then people went to Williamson Hall, where Friedman began 
a book signing at 2:00pm.
                   We gathered outside of the bookstore holding the banners 
and some individuals spoke out
                   to the people in line and in the area about their views. 
By this time, the crowed had
                   dwindled some and the energy had taken a definite down 
turn. I left as Friedman walked
                   into do the book signing. There were many cops and I could 
see no way to continue the
                   energy from earlier in the afternoon. I had no interest in 
beginning a dialogue with
                   Friedman because it would have been on his terms and it 
would have taken place in the
                   presence of cops who had authority to arrest me. I slipped 
out at that point. 

                   It should be recognized that in many ways, our action was 
disconnected from the lives of
                   most of the people in the world. We were fighting an 
ideology. To be familiar with this
                   ideology, you'd have to have read Friedman's writings. I 
think that is something to consider
                   as we put our precious efforts into campaigns. We can't 
build a mass movement by
                   disrupting one person's interpretation of a neo-liberal 
ideology. Nonetheless, it was
                   worthwhile to demonstrate dissent. Though I think our 
education efforts need to stay
                   focused on the issues, it is enormously helpful to be 
familiar with what Noam Chomsky
                   calls the "cultural managers," like Friedman, who barrage 
us with this ideology through
                   corporate propaganda outlets like the New York Times. 

                   I wish we could have been more organized and had a greater 
resolve to disrupt his
                   speech. I don't see any reason why we should be tolerant 
of the many capitalist
                   assumptions pervade our society. Friedman has been 
enormously successful in convincing
                   many people that corporate globalization is irreversible 
and the best you can do is make a
                   lot of money for yourself. He adds that rising to the top 
or "the front of the herd" is the only
                   way we can steer the inevitable capitalist expansion to 
gain things like a "good standard of
                   living," "sustainable globalization" and other nonsense. 
We need to show that we won't
                   take it anymore, and we'll fight to stop this neo-liberal 
vision. The people already
                   convinced that there is nothing we can do to corporate 
globalization will likely be angry at
                   us. But uneasiness that our actions will offend some 
should not tame our militancy. 


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